Contemporary Latin is the form of the Latin language used to compose texts from the end of the 19th century down to the present. Three kinds of contemporary Latin can be distinguished:
- Ecclesiastical Latin, the Latin used in the Catholic Church, which maintains continuity in subject-matter and pronunciation with the Latin used by the Church in preceding centuries.
- New Latin, formerly the dominant secular form of Latin used as an international lingua franca down to the 19th century, and as a significant professional language in academic and scientific fields such as medicine, pharmacy, zoology, and veterinary medicine, where many periodicals, itineraries, and important monographs were written in Latin. Today New Latin is still used in the nomenclature of animals, drugs, illnesses, anatomy, and botany, where Latin nomenclature is still required.[1] Latin is also sometimes used in classical scholarship, in, for example, the introductions to some classical texts such as the Oxford Classical Texts series. It is nearly always used for the apparatus criticus of Ancient Greek and Latin texts.
- Living or Spoken Latin, an effort to revive Latin as a spoken language and as the vehicle for new and entertaining dialogues and publications. Involvement in this Latin revival can be a mere hobby, or extend to projects for restoring its former role as an international auxiliary language. Living or Spoken Latin is the primary subject of this article. Contemporary Latin is characterized by the general adoption of the classical pronunciation of Latin as restored by specialists in Latin historical phonology. [2]
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Emergence
Reform of Latin instruction and writing to more closely approximate classical Roman usage was an ongoing academic project throughout the 19th century. There was, however, much initial resistance to any change in traditional methods. For instance, the essentials of the classical pronunciation had been defined since the early 19th century (e.g. in K.L. Schneider's Elementarlehre der Lateinischen Sprache, 1819), but in many countries there was strong resistance to adopting it in instruction. In English-speaking countries, where the academic pronunciation diverged most markedly from the restored classical model, the struggle between the two pronunciations lasted for the entire 19th century. The transition between Latin pronunciations was sudden and drastic (the "new pronunciation" was adopted throughout the schools in England in 1907),[3] but the older pronunciation, as found in the nomenclature and terminology of various professions, continued to be used for many decades, and, in some spheres, to the present day.
In the late nineteenth century, Latin periodicals advocating the revived use of Latin as an international language appeared. Between 1889 and 1895 Karl Heinrich Ulrichs published in Italy his Alaudæ[4]; this publication was followed by the Vox Urbis: de litteris et bonis artibus commentarius[5], published by the architect and engineer Aristide Leonori from 1898, twice a month, until 1913, one year before the outbreak of World War I.
The early 20th century, marked by warfare and by drastic social and technological changes, saw few advances in the use of Latin outside of the academy. Following the beginnings of the re-integration of postwar Europe, however, Latin revivalism gained some strength. The first International Conference for living Latin (Congrès international pour le Latin vivant), held in Avignon in 1956, marked the beginning of a new era for the active use of Latin.
At the present time, several periodicals and social networking web sites are published in Latin; see external links below.
Latin has also been used as a spoken language in numerous summer conferences throughout Europe, and more recently in America.
Spoken Latin
Many users of contemporary Latin promote its use as a spoken language, a movement that dubs itself "Living Latin". Among the proponents of spoken Latin, some promote the active use of the language to make learning Latin both more enjoyable and more efficient, in this respect drawing upon the methodologies of instructors of modern languages. Others pursue a more radical approach, supporting the revival of Latin as a language of international academic, perhaps even scientific and diplomatic, communications (as it was in Europe and European colonies through Middle Ages until the mid-18th century), or as an international auxiliary language. However, as a language native to no people, this movement has not received support from any government, national or supranational.
A substantial group of institutions (particularly in Europe, but also in North and South America) has emerged to support the use of Latin as a spoken language.
Notable proponents of spoken Latin today include A. Gratius Avitus, Hans Henning Ørberg, Gaius Licoppe, Luigi Miraglia, and Terentius Tunberg.
The University Orator at the University of Cambridge makes a speech in Latin marking the achievements of each of the honorands at the annual Honorary Degree Congregations, as does the Public Orator at the Encaenia ceremony at the University of Oxford. These degree ceremonies as well as the formal proceedings of other degree ceremonies are conducted in Latin. Oxford, Harvard, Princeton, Brown, Sewanee and Bard College also hold a portion of their graduation ceremonies in Latin, as does Charles University.[1]
Original literary production
Poetry
Recent[when?] writers of Latin poetry include Arrius Nurus, Geneviève Immè, Alanus Divutius, Anna Elissa Radke, Ianus Novak, Thomas Pekkanen, and others.
Translations
Various texts—usually children's books—have been translated into Latin since 1900 for various purposes, including use as a teaching tool or simply to demonstrate the author's command of Latin in a popular context.
Contemporary Latin texts include:
- 1960. Winnie Ille Pu (Winnie-the-Pooh) tr. Alexander Lenard.
- 1962. Ferdinandus Taurus (Ferdinand the Bull) tr. Elizabeth Chamberlayne Hadas.
- 1964. Alicia in Terra Mirabili (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland) tr. Clive Harcourt Carruthers.
- 1966. Aliciae Per Speculum Transitus (Quaeque Ibi Invenit) (Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There) tr. Clive Harcourt Carruthers.
- 1973-present. Asterix[6] (Asterix — a French comic book series)
- 1983. Alix - Spartaci Filius (Alix - Franco-Belgian comics)
- 1985. Regulus, vel Pueri Soli Sapiunt (The Little Prince) tr. Augusto Haury
- 1987. De Titini et Miluli Facinoribus: De Insula Nigra (Tintin - Franco-Belgian comics)
- 1990. De Titini et Miluli Facinoribus: De Sigaris Pharaonis (Tintin - Franco-Belgian comics)
- 1991. Tela Charlottae (Charlotte's Web) tr. Bernice Fox.
- 1994. Sub rota (Unterm Rad) tr. Sigrides C. Albert
- 1998.
- Quomodo Invidiosulus Nomine Grinchus Christi Natalem Abrogaverit (How the Grinch Stole Christmas) tr. Jennifer Morrish Tunberg, Terence O. Tunberg.
- Winnie Ille Pu Semper Ludet (The House at Pooh Corner) tr. Brian Staples.
- 2000. Cattus Petasatus (The Cat in the Hat) tr. Jennifer Morish Tunberg, Terence O. Tunberg.
- 2002. Arbor Alma (The Giving Tree) tr. Terence O. Tunberg, Jennifer Morrish Tunberg.
- 2003. Virent Ova, Viret Perna (Green Eggs and Ham) tr. Terence O. Tunberg, Jennifer Morrish Tunberg.
- 2003. Harrius Potter et Philosophi Lapis (Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone) tr. Peter Needham.
- 2006. Harrius Potter et Camera Secretorum (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets) tr. Peter Needham.
2009 - over 265 illustrated children's books in Latin have been published on the Tar Heel Reader website.
Other examples
- Latin for All Occasions, a book by Henry Beard, attempts to find Latin equivalents for contemporary catchphrases.
- Signs at the Wallsend Metro station of the Tyne and Wear Metro
- Films such as Sebastiane and The Passion of the Christ.
- Several metal bands, including Corvus Corax, have songs in Latin.
- In the Vatican there is an ATM (bank machine) with instructions in Latin. image
- Google search engine has Latin as a language option
Notes
- ^ "International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (Saint Louis Code), Electronic Version". http://www.bgbm.fu-berlin.de/iapt/nomenclature/code/SaintLouis/0040Ch4Sec2a036.htm. Retrieved 2008-08-05.
- ^ E.g. Prof. Edgar H. Sturtevant (The Pronunciation of Greek and Latin, Chicago Ares Publishers Inc. 1940) and Prof. W. Sidney Allen (Vox Latina, A Guide to the Pronunciation of Classical Latin, Cambridge University Press 1965), who followed in the tradition of previous pronunciation reformers; cf. Erasmus's De recta Latini Græcique sermonis pronuntiatione dialogus and even Alcuin's De orthographia.
- ^ The School world, Macmillan & Co., 1907
- ^ Cf. Wielfried Stroh (ed.), Alaudæ. Eine lateinische Zeitschrift 1889-1895 herausgegeben von Karl Heinrich Ulrichs. Nachdruck mit einer Einleitung von Wielfried Stroh, Hamburg, MännerschwarmSkript Verlag, 2004.
- ^ Cf. Volfgangus Jenniges, "Vox Urbis (1898-1913) quid sibi proposuerit", Melissa, 139 (2007) 8-11.
- ^ Asterix in Latin.
External links
Dictionaries and glossaries
- WORDS Latin on-line dictionary
- Free Latin Dictionary Thousands of Latin terms
- Latin computer terminology — An example of the constant changes made in modern Latin.
- The Latin Lexicon A Latin lexicon/dictionary, word-study tool and flashcard maker
- Latinitas Recens (Speculum) - Latin Dictionary of Modern Terms (mirror)
- Lingua Latina Aeterna Conversational materials and recent translations; for Russian and English speakers
- An Drouizig - Latin Spell-checker
+Comenius Lexicon Januale Latino-Latinum et Lexicon Atriale Latino-Latinum two Latin-Latin student dictionaries, the first a more basic one, the second assumes knowledge of he first.
Groups
- Fundatio Melissa
- Grex Latine Loquentium Email list, est. early 1990's.
- Latinitati Vivae Provehendae Associatio
- Nova Roma — Society supporting the revival of Roman customs
- Schola Latin Forum - Latin only social networking site with real-time chatroom, est. February 2008.
- Septentrionale Americanum Latinitatis Vivae Institutum — North American Institute of Living Latin Studies
- Septimanae Latinae Europaeae — European Latin Weeks
- Societas Circulorum Latinorum — umbrella group for Latin "Circles", including:
- Circulus Latinus Panormitanus — group in Palermo, Italy
- Societates Latinæ — list of other Latin associations
- University of Kentucky Institute for Latin studies
Lessons
- Latinum — Latinum is an online audio course in spoken Latin, based on George Adler's A Practical Grammar of the Latin Language (1858).
News
- Nuntii Latini — Nuntii Latini, a weekly review of world news in Latin from Finnish broadcaster Yleisradio.
- Nuntii Latini Italici — News in Latin from Italy
Social
- alt.language.latin — Usenet newsgroup
- Colloquia Latina — Latin discussion list
- The Latin Language Forum - Message board for discussions in and about the Latin language
- Schola, Scribendum est nobis! A social website for messaging and blogging in Latin only.
Other
- Contemporary Latin Poetry
- Homo Ciceronianus — Entirely Latin commentary on Latin literature and philosophy
- LatinLanguage.us - Weblog reporting on Latin in the modern age.
- Poeta ex Machina — Text-to-Speech for Latin poetry.
- Vicipaedia, the Latin Wikipedia
- Vita Latina, Latin-language periodical published by the University of Montpellier (web page in French)
- Vita Latinitatis — useful (but not updated for a few years now...) links for people interested in speaking Latin
- Vox Latina — Latin periodical from Saarland University published since 1965
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